Gareth Bale and Tottenham slice through Chelsea's title pretensions

Gareth Bale scored an outstanding goal for Tottenham's second, also his second of the week against the club's major London rivals. Photograph: Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport

Before kick-off, it was easy to poke fun at the eternally optimistic Tottenham supporter who laid a heavy sum on his team to beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United at odds of 40-1. Well, well, well. One thing is sure, Carlo Ancelotti will be desperate for Spurs to put in such a sparkling performance next weekend at Old Trafford.

Harry Redknapp's team are suddenly surfing atop a wave of adrenalin and excitement, and two outstanding results have bounced them back into a Champions League position. Chelsea departed White Hart Lane with their momentum battered and their egos bruised. Their lead at the Premier League summit has been trimmed to a point, and a goal difference only three better than the scrapping, lurking, defending champions.

It was a dreadful evening for Chelsea, who lost their captain to a self-inflicted red card, their tempers in a situation they could not handle, and their comfortable cushion in the title race. "We were a bit down," conceded Ancelotti. "But we have to stay calm. We are top of the table and I think we have less pressure than the other teams."

But what an extraordinary week for Spurs. Floored by Portsmouth in the FA Cup over two hours on the Wembley quagmire, they responded to scalp two London rivals who like to consider themselves superior. Top marks for character as well as craft. "Two unbelievable performances and well-deserved," concluded Harry Redknapp.

His team set about their task with relish, evidently buoyed by their long-awaited win over Arsenal. Luka Modric used the ball craftily, Gareth Bale galloped forward with his engine in overdrive. Roman Pavlyuchenko's drifting movement and willingness to shoot stretched the Chelsea defence. Further back Michael Dawson was watertight.

Tottenham upped the pressure with a rush of big appeals just before the quarter-hour. First, Terry tangled with Jermain Defoe on the edge of the area, next Bale tumbled fractionally ahead of Mikel John Obi's challenge, then Pavlyuchenko's acrobatic flick was brushed away by a vague combination of Terry's nodded head and upper arm.

It was third time lucky. To Terry's astonishment the referee, Phil Dowd, pointed to the spot. Defoe, who choked with a couple of penalties earlier in the season, was eager to take responsibilty and he nervelessly cracked his shot past Petr Cech.

Defoe cantered off to celebrate. Terry argued with Dowd and, as if to back him up, even Redknapp admitted later the decision was harsh. Mind you, perhaps there was some karmic force at work which evened out some of the fortune that smiled on Chelsea regarding penalty appeals for Bolton last week.

There were plentiful opportunities to double the home advantage before half-time, with Pavlyuchenko and David Bentley rattling at Chelsea's ramparts, before Bale stormed the barricades. He made mincemeat of Paulo Ferreira, jinked inside his man, and proved surprisingly deadly with his right foot. Cech was certainly stunned as the Welshman arrowed his shot in at the near post.

Ancelotti had urged Chelsea to replicate their commanding performance at Old Trafford this month. Hmmm. His team were second best. Outmanoeuvred in midfield, outrun at the back, and snuffed out up front, with Heurelho Gomes again formidable.

The second half started badly as Didier Drogba felt his groin just before the restart and limped to the sidelines even though Ancelotti had just brought on all of his substitutes. Frustration began to gnaw, and Lampard kicked out at Tom Huddlestone.

Tempers frayed as both sets of players sprinted to the scene of a little dust-up.

Just what Chelsea needed at such a delicate moment was for Terry to start lunging into tackles with reckless imprecision. So soon after the dangerous pounce at James Milner's knee, Fabio Capello again looked on as the deposed England captain overstepped the line of riskiness. Two late tackles within three minutes left Dowd with no option but to dismiss Terry for two bookable offences. Chelsea did cause some late nerves when Lampard poked in Michael Ballack's cross in stoppage time, but Tottenham deservedly hung on for another momentous result.

"We missed four or five chances to kill them off," said Redknapp. "One last shot at goal and anything can happen, but luckily it didn't. If you had offered me five points from these three games I'd have snapped your hand off. We've got six already, so we can go to Old Trafford and give it our best shot."

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

ALAN FISHER TottenhamOnMyMind.wordpress.com What a fantastic performance, I'm just breathless. They were dead on their feet after 70 minutes on Sunday and to come back and give such an outstanding performance after the Arsenal game – I've been watching them for 40 years and that was as good as I have seen for donkey's years. It was a team performance by a group of outstanding individuals. Chelsea gave us more room in midfield than Arsenal and Modric and Huddlestone took full advantage. Bale was outstanding, the physicality and shrewdness of his game; he is a world-class prospect.

karen childs, Observer reader Spurs got off the blocks very, very quickly and they pulled us apart. But we made it easy for them, we were really below par and John Terry being sent off was the last straw. Tottenham were flying after beating Arsenal, I had been worried about that and they looked impressive while we just looked slow. I'm really disappointed and if we play again like that we won't look like champions. Bale looked really good and Defoe always scores against us. Cech was kept so busy and I thought they would get a third. Plan B at half-time didn't really work and we couldn't start attacks let alone finish them. They looked good today, we looked old.